A forum for developers and IT Pros to discuss about interoperability has been launched on MSDN forums. The Interoperability forum is getting started with several posts and a FAQ. You can join in by logging in with your Live ID.
The Interoperability forum has three main areas:
Interoperability conversations.
Technical interoperability scenarios.
Achieving interoperability through standards.
The first aims to facilitate general conversation, the next to discuss and resolve technical...

The documentation for the existing 2006 implementation of XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) has been published.
The XAML technical documentation set provides detailed preliminary technical specifications of Xaml Object Mapping. This documentation set includes details on Xaml’s data model for Types, Xaml’s data model for object hierarchies, and the techniques with which one maps from Xml to those object hierarchy data model. Also included is documentation of Windows Presentation Foundation...

I'll often be asked for solid information about the performance of SQL Server 2008 . Even though it is not yet completed and there is more performance tuning going on, the SQL team has published the results of February 2007 community technology (CTP) release. The results were published around the time of the first launch events. The results are posted on a SQL Server 2008 CTP performance blog entry .
The results include performance against industry standard benchmarks. Although that's important...

Join members of the Visual Studio Team System product group to discuss features available in Team Foundation Server, Team Suite, Architecture Edition, Development Edition, Database Edition, and Test Edition. In addition, discuss what's new for these editions for Visual Studio 2008.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
10:00 - 11 A.M. Pacific Time
1:00 - 2:00 P.M. Eastern Time
17:00 - 18:00 GMT
Register here for the Visual Studio team chat.

For those interested in getting acquainted with Silverlight 2 development, there an application online for you to try out. It's a Silverlight 2 online banking application for a fictional company named Woodgrove Financial. Now don't go try to get money out of the account. But you can try out the pop-out menus. and user interaction that may be coming.
Source, installation, and a walkthrough script are available online at Microsoft's Financial Developers site in a single .zip file. The site also...

Have you been putting together a great application on Windows Server 2008 and wondering where you might have it hosted? After all Windows Server 2008 with IIS7 is the most advanced Windows Server operating system yet. Check out these special values:
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www.servepath.com/WS08offers...

Continuing my "not exactly..." series of posts related to surface computing (see http://blogs.msdn.com/usisvde/archive/2008/01/17/roll-your-own-surface-well-not-exactly.aspx for more scintillating insights), I'd like to point out that there's a great opportunity for those with an interest in healthcare and life sciences to get a chance to see and, yes, touch a surface computer at the upcoming Microsoft Health & Life Sciences Developer and Solutions Conference 2008.
The conference will take...

The SoftGrid team would like to reach out to our ISV community, and have requested to provide a guest posting to our humble blog. I'm pleased to accommodate their request, so without further ado, here's Sean Donahue.
"Coming soon...Your only limitation is your imagination when extending on top of App Virtualization
Hello! My name is Sean Donahue (officially Sean Michael Patrick Donahue), and I have a few hours to kill while my corned beef and cabbage boils away here on St. Patrick’s Day...

A feature complete release candidate of Microsoft's new Hyper-V technology is now available. Hyper-V is Microsoft's new virtualization stack for Windows Server 2008.
The release candidate can be downloaded here , while the release notes describe hardware requirements, list vendor-tested hardware, and list some known issues.

San Ramji, director of the Open Source Software Lab , has announced the beginnings of Microsoft's collaboration with Eclipse Foundation. The idea is to help Eclipse developer build software for Windows.
Microsoft will provide engineering support to allow Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) to use Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) . Such support would make it easier to Java developers to write applications that look and feel like Windows Vista. Ramji explains in his blog posting Supernova...

You can download Windows Vista SP1 from Windows Update. SP1 will start downloading to PCs automatically beginning in mid-April. The launch of SP1 was delayed to help insure support for drivers.
If you are running Windows Update, but don't see Windows Vista SP1 there are a number of reasons for this. In fact, there are eight reasons. See the whole list at the knowledge base article: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is not available for installation from Windows Update and is not offered by Automatic...

Today I published another new screencast for Office developers. This brief (5 minutes) screencast walks through creating your own Word Add-in and placing the Ribbon Tab/Group in between existing Office built-In ribbon bar tabs. You no longer have to settle for your ribbon bar tab being the last on the list :) Here's my current VSTO related screencast's: Using Office 2007 Icons in Your Office 2007 Add-ins Adding Controls to the Same Tab Group from Multiple Add-ins Placing Your Controls/Groups on Existing...

One of the key ways to differentiate your application is to integrate tightly with the tools used in your customer's IT departments. When you make it easier for the IT Pros to figure out what is right and what it wrong with your applications customer satisfaction increases too.
Health models are the way to describe the state of your application. Did you know you there are now tools available to help your Architects, Developers and IT Pros build highly manageable applications that can be monitored...

I'm occasionally asked by ISVs about how they can establish a partnership with Microsoft. We offer Microsoft Empower for ISVs to meet this need. While it's not free, it is a good value, offering:
Up to five internal-use software licenses:
One (1) software license and up to five (5) Client Access Licenses (CALs) for:
Development and testing license: One (1) MSDN Premium Subscription Media Kit and five (5) user licenses**
ISV Advisory Service (10 hours)
Check out https...

Two open-source accessibility testing tools have been released for developers. The two new tools include the User Interface Accessibility Checker ( AccChecker ) and UI Automation Verify ( UIA Verify ) both on Codeplex . These tools enable developers to test accessibility implementations and functionality in applications using Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) or Microsoft User Interface Automation (UIA).
AccChecker comes in three modes – a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool for the initial...

Stuart Celarier of CheckFree and I explore the new languages features in C# in a series of screencasts on Channel 9. Each is a whirlwind tours of the important language features since C# 1. Stuart describes the feature and why it is useful. But he doesn't get into best practices nor suggested usages. Just the facts about the feature.
Whirlwinds are bite-sized webcasts, each is shorter than 15 minutes. You can start anywhere in the series to learn about the parts you're most interested in.
Part...

Do you know someone of any age interested in writing code? Or maybe you are the parent of someone interested in learning more about what you do. Check out the Kid's Corner on MSDN for lots of fun, easy to understand lessons on programming.
There's eBooks on C# and VB for kids, Some of the guides include teacher materials. There's a presentation on learning how to build your first web site from the Microsoft DigiGirlz Tech Camp and an into to web design. And much more.
If you are a mentor, you...

Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008 has been released to the web and can be found here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=428E4C3D-64AD-4A3D-85D2-E711ABC87F04&displaylang=en at the Microsoft Downloads site. Adapt your App :: Create a single binary that runs unchanged on Windows Mobile Standard or Pro, Portrait or Landscape, Rectangle or Square. No more wasting time building separate executables to accommodate different screen sizes or input methods...

I recently published a new screencast for Office developers. This brief (6 minutes) screencast walks through creating two different Excel add-in projects that add controls to the same group on the same tab within Excel. Since I had been asked a few times, and seen the question coming up more often on discussion lists, I thought it was worthy of a quick screencast. I will be publishing two more screencast's in the next few days. One on the new VSTO Power Toys and one on Placing your controls/group...

With the new workflow extensions added to .Net 3.5, some of the ISVs I work with have expressed a renewed interest in the Workflow Foundation. I found myself covering certain topics more frequently than others, so I decided to start a short how-to series that addresses some of the most common questions. These screencasts last about 12 minutes each and will hopefully get you quickly started with your own custom workflows and activities. Part 1 From Code Activity to Custom Activity Part 2 Activity...

"Do you have any training on {INSERT CURRENT TECHNOLOGY}?". This question comes up every once in a while and I thought I'd share my research as it may benefit other out there. The Microsoft eLearning team has a really good site that you should bookmark as a resource for future reference: https://www.microsoftelearning.com/ They have things grouped into catalogs, and the developer catalog seems to be most in sync with our blog readers. Given this, here is a list of current FREE courses you can sign...

This introductory Web seminar series will provide a high-level overview of the world of Windows Mobile® development. You will become familiar with the device development landscape: tools, emulators, APIs, and data access. It is available April 14 - 18 at 10 am Pacific. Click each of the following links to sign up for each part.
Part: 1 Windows Mobile 6.0 Development Fundamentals
Part: 2 Tools for Windows Mobile 6.0 Development
Part: 3 Managed Code Development for Windows Mobile...

The beta version of Silverlight 2 is available for download. Version 2 features support for managed code applications and for developing with multiple languages including Iron Ruby, Iron Python, JavaScript, and .NET. Silverlight 2 includes more than 40 controls and a rich set of .NET base cases. In addition, plans have been announced for Silverlight for Windows Mobile and work with Nokia for support on the Symbian OS. You can get Silverlight 2 for Windows or Mac OS X from a link on the Microsoft...

Finding good people is often the number one challenge for ISVs. This goes for developers and IT Pros. A new portal helps connect students graduation with skills on the Microsoft stack with ISVs.
The Microsoft S2B program helps you connect and hire talented university and post-graduate students for jobs or internships. It helps match skills with positions. Microsoft collaborates with universities and business to provide students with specialized trainign and intership opportunities.
Microsoft...